Use Your Smart Muscles!

We know we need to keep moving to keep healthy and fit. We also should know by now we need to use our muscles regularly.. You can’t build them and be done with it. Use it or lose it is more accurate to say! You may work harder in the beginning to get fit and then can taper back a bit to stay fit, but you can’t just quit when you get there. Muscles are meant to be moved and used.

Besides hamstrings, gluten, triceps, quads, core, and biceps … do you know another very important muscle you need to keep using to maintain?? It’s probably not your first guess. I’ll give you a hint - you are using it right now to figure out this answer. Your Brain!!! I don’t believe we often think about our brain as a muscle that we need to work and use, but we do!

So how do we work our brain? We learn new things. We take on new challenges. We use our brain to control our body with new movements. We expand our experiences. While most of us are finished with traditional schooling we don’t need to be finished learning. One of the reasons I chose to do the Stott Teacher Training despite already going through another Teacher Training is to learn and grow and challenge myself in a new way.

Do you notice how you feel exhausted after a long day of learning? Your brain is tired but probably quite happy, too! This weekend we spent 8 hours on Saturday and again on Sunday tackling teacher training and it was fun, challenging, educational, and exhausting. Working the mind just like any other muscle can lead to muscle fatigue.

There are so many studies these days pointing to the ability to stop memory loss, to maintain cognitive skills, and age better if we continue to work our brains. Whether you do a crossword puzzle, take a course that interests you or take on a new hobby … find a way to keep your brain in shape!

Pilates is a mind body exercise so a simple way to work your brain is to come to Pilates. We are always challenging you with new moves and modifications. This works that brain to figure out how to do it and then how to do it better. Making those connections keep us sharp!

My challenge to you this week is to work that brain muscle! If you aren’t sure how - come take a class or private and we’ll make you smarter and fitter at the same time!